Tried our hand at catching "Squawfish" or Northern Pikeminnow for any of you who prefer to be politically correct. Had no earthly idea what I was doing but here is what I learned...
1) Squawfish like to hid behind objects where they can ambush Salmon/Steelhead smolts. Fishing behind structure produced more fish.
2) They like worms and chicken liver which is what we used as bait. (liver produced more fish when it stayed on)
3) Chicken liver does not stay on the hooks even with an egg loop so next time I'm going to use spawn sacks to hold the bait together combined with the egg loop should work better.
4) There is a significant tide change on the Columbia even that far up river. )Bring weights ranging from 1/4 oz to 1 1/2 oz)
5) Slack tides produce more fish.
6) Your first time fishing you get an extra 10 dollars per angler that catches one fish greater than 9"
7) Juveniles fish for free so write the word "Juvenile" where is asks for their license number.
8) Fill out your paperwork when you get there and leave it in the box... you must return with your fish between 1:30 and 5:30 daily to check them in.
9) Bring a measuring device to know which are over 9". Though there is no size limit the only fish that pay are over 9". We caught fish ranging from 16" to 9 1/4"
10) It's easy.

There were five of us in the boat each caught 1x fish so we got vouchers for 75$. We fished near Kalama which is an excellent boat launch though the parking lot is being repaved which was a dirt/pothole mess. Take a kid or yourself catch a Squawfish and "save a Salmon".

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